A collection of food related brain lint from a pyrokineticist who fancies himself eclectic, eccentric, acerbic, and a ridiculously good cook. E-mail the Jester! jkgrence at gmail dot com

Friday, June 29, 2007

The Ratings Explained

This post has been a long time coming, and finally here it is. I do my reviews mostly on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the best. Well, actually, it's more of a 0 to 6 scale, but zeros and sixes are quite rare. I start off each overview with the basic information, like this:

Atmosphere: 5 (A testament to how tacky everything was in the 80s. I wouldn't want it any other way.)Service: 4 (this time you could tell the waitresses got slammed at 3 AM, but everyone was friendly. And thank goodness, they still said good night when I left at 4!)Food: 4 (Competent, generous, and for heavens' sakes get the coffee!)

Each of these goes off of the same scale:6: Wow, this is the best I've ever had!5: I loved it4: I liked it3: It's OK2: I didn't like it1: I hated it0: Not Acceptable

The 0 rating happens when something happens that just plain should not exist in the course of dining. Two notable occurences were an atmosphere 0 for a bathroom that looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a week, and a service 0 when the counter person took something I had returned and put it back under the heat lamps. In both cases, there was just one thing to say: Eew. I always include a brief description to explain just why I gave that particular number.

Next up is:

Value 3 (Looks kind of pricey, but quality is good and portions can be gigantic)

This measures the kind of bang you get for your buck.5: An absolute steal4: Prices are a little low3: Prices are reasonable2: Prices are a little high1: Rip-off!

I also mention a couple of special dining cases:

Kid Friendly: 4 (Kids will be very happy here)Veg Friendly: 3 (With a menu this expansive, there are quite a few veg choices, but more on the breakfast menu than dinner. Vegan options are limited but do exist)

Both of these work pretty much the same way:5: The restaurant specifically caters to this clientele (Chuck E Cheese and Green, respectively)4: The restaurant put forth good effort to accomodate this clientele (Oregano's and Pita Jungle)3: The restaurant has basic amenities for this clientele (Most restaurants)2: The restaurant has limited options for this clientele (Delux and Texas Roadhouse)1: The restaurant does not cater to this clientele (Mary Elaine's and Durant's)

Last is the Overall score, which works the same way as the Food/Service/Atmosphere rankings. Note that this is not an average! A place could have 4s across the board but still get a 3 or 5 just as easily due to those little unseen touches that bring everything together or pull everything apart.

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